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Friday, July 27, 2012

KOREAN SHOWS: Dancing with the Stars Korea - Season 2 (12)

Choi Yeojin poses with her DWTS partner and coach, Park Jiwoo. Park is Korea's number one ballroom dancer.

In the twelfth, final, round of "Dancing with the Stars Korea" (7/20/2012), the finalists of the show, Choi Yeojin & Park Jiwoo and Hyoyeon & Kim Hyeongseok, performed first the pasodoble routines and then the cha-cha-cha routines and each garnered a total score of 58 points from the judges (29 points for each dance routine). Consequently, it was viewer voters that had the final say in deciding the winner and the Choi/Park pair was picked by them to be the season two champion of "Dancing with the Stars Korea."

Choi is a Korean-Canadian actress and model who caught my eye in a 2004 KBS drama, Mianhada, Saranghanda (미안하다, 사랑한다, "I'm Sorry, I Love You"), in which she played Moon Jiyoung, the ex-girlfriend of Cha Moohyuk (played by So Jisub).

Choi Yeojin poses with So Jisub in "I'm Sorry, I Love You."

She's not Korea's cookie cutter actressand that's why she hasn't been too well received by the Korean fans but also that's exactly why I like her and why I've rooted for her. Here are excerpts from a recent newspaper interview (written in English) conducted by phone with her:

"I've been practicing 10 hours a day for the final. I even postponed shooting a TV drama to focus on this," she said. "I learned ballet when I was young, and I dreamed of becoming a ballerina. But after my parents divorced, we emigrated to Canada when I was in the first year of middle school. Then we went through some financial difficulties and I had to give up my dream. Now I'm just really happy to be on the stage."

Choi debuted via the 2001 Super Elite Model Contest, and has eight years of acting experience. "Viewers like my dancing more than my acting," she said. "I was kind of frustrated as an actress because I always played the same kind of characters and ended up projecting stereotypes, which could bore viewers. But now I'm much happier because I can turn into a glamorous dancer every time I get on stage."

Choi said that even though she has picked up a few injuries during the filming of the dance shows -- a ruptured muscle in her lower back and a torn ligament in one of her toes -- she has no regrets about joining the program.

"I will dance the paso doble and cha-cha in the final round," she said. "As I know this will be my last performance, I feel quite relaxed about things. I'll just give it my best shot, so I won't have any reason to feel disappointed with myself later." (Source Link)

Now, check out Choi/Park's and Hyoyeon/Kim'sfinal performance on the show, cha-cha-cha, and another special performance featuring four season one contestants and their professional partners.